A Combination of FDM, DEMATEL, and DANP for Disclosing the Interrelationship of Influencing Factors in Rural Homestay Business: Empirical Evidence from China

Abstract

As a rural tourism product, homestays play an essential role in sustainability. The operation of homestay business is directly linked to the success or failure of community-based tourism development. By taking rural homestay business in Zhejiang as a research object, the paper aims to clarify the interrelationships among influencing factors in the operation of rural homestay business from a performance perspective. Based on multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) techniques, this paper not only constructed the evaluation system of homestay business in the Chinese context by the Fuzzy Delphi Method (FDM), but also disclosed the interrelationships of criteria and aspects by a decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) and the DEMATEL-based analytical network process (DANP). Results show that: (1) 5 aspects and 31 criteria comprise the evaluation system of homestay business, (2) the aspects and criteria with high global weight are nearly clustered into the effect group, (3) the weight of service quality and homestay geist and community co-prosperity as the rank top two, (4) more than these, hardware facilities construct the product features of homestays because of the role of driving elements, (5) owing to the core elements, criteria about operational efficiency become guiding principles of homestay business, and (6) service quality and integrated utilization of socio-cultural resources underpin the sustainable development of homestay business in the long run. Therefore, the interrelationships of aspects and criteria provide further insights and underline the focus on homestay business for practitioners. At the same time, these serve as an effective administration tool for industry administrations. These will lay a solid foundation to enhance the level of homestay business and boost the sustainable development of community-based tourism.

Challenges and Opportunities in Additive Manufacturing Polymer Technology: A Review Based on Optimization Perspective

“…FDM machine users suffer a lot because after purchasing a machine, services such as repair or replacement of parts are not available properly from suppliers. Therefore, it is considered very important for wholesalers to choose distributors [10,17,52,53] who provide proper sales and service. Solving this using any suitable MCDM method would be a novelty.…”

An Integrated Approach with CLFPR-Based ANP and Fuzzy TOPSIS for Evaluating Business Performance of Rural Homestays: Study from China

“…Peng et al (2022) established a performance evaluation framework that combined the prior research results with an expert interview through MCDM techniques in China. A total of five aspects and 31 criteria of the performance evaluation framework involved financial and non-financial criteria [26]. Thanvisitthpon (2021) built a performance system by a statistical analysis of Thailand's sustainable homestay business, incorporating six dimensions and 31 indicators [27].…”

“…The performance system was designed by in Taiwan; it contains five aspects of the surroundings of the building and the features of service quality, homestay facilities, homestay operation and management, and homestay geist and community co-prosperity [29]. However, a significant flaw in these performance systems is that financial criteria are not included, aside from that in Peng et al (2022) [26].…”

“…To judge whether sustainability positively or negatively impacts firm performance, financial and non-financial performance should be measured over the long run [58]. As a result, considering the systematic and holistic performance of homestay operations, this study adopts the homestay performance evaluation framework constructed by Peng et al (2022) [26], as shown in Table 1.…”

“…Five respondents were asked to evaluate the performance indicators of the alternatives. Given that Zhejiang has been becoming a benchmarking area for homestay development in China [26], five rural homestays from various regions in Zhejiang were chosen, including Moganshan, Qiandaohu, Xiangshan, Wenling, and Songyang. These rural homestays have been in operation for more than 5 years and have received higher online reviews from tourists on third-party platforms.…”